Why Crowdsourcing Your Brand's Logo is a Bad Idea

Crowdsourcing logo design might seem like a cost-effective solution, but it’s one of the worst decisions you can make for your brand. While the concept sounds appealing—multiple designers competing to create your logo, you choose the best one—the reality is far more problematic than most business owners realize.

Understanding why crowdsourcing fails helps you make better decisions about your brand identity and invest in professional logo design that truly serves your business.

What is Crowdsourcing Logo Design?

Crowdsourcing involves posting your logo design project on a platform where multiple designers submit designs. You review all submissions, choose your favorite, and pay only for the selected design. On the surface, it seems simple: you get multiple options and only pay for what you like.

However, this approach creates significant problems that far outweigh any perceived cost savings. Let’s explore why crowdsourcing is detrimental to your brand.

Problem 1: Poor Quality Designs

The Reality of Open Competitions

When you open a logo design project to the public, you’re inviting submissions from designers of all skill levels. This means:

• Inexperienced designers submit work that doesn’t meet professional standards
• Unskilled designers create generic, off-message designs
• Template users submit cookie-cutter designs that lack originality
• Amateur designers flood the competition with substandard work

The Time Cost of Sifting Through Submissions

You’ll spend hours—possibly days—reviewing dozens or hundreds of submissions to find the few that are actually professional quality. This time investment is rarely factored into the “cost savings” of crowdsourcing.

Consider: if your time is worth $50-100 per hour, spending 10-20 hours reviewing submissions costs $500-2,000 in lost productivity. Suddenly, the “cheap” crowdsourced logo isn’t so cheap.

Generic and Off-Message Designs

Most crowdsourced designs are generic because designers don’t have the opportunity to:

• Understand your business deeply
• Research your industry and competitors
• Learn about your target audience
• Develop a strategic approach

Without this context, designers create generic designs that could work for any business in your industry. Your logo should be unique to your brand, not interchangeable with competitors.

Problem 2: No Designer Relationship

The Value of Ongoing Collaboration

Professional logo design is a collaborative process. A designer who understands your business can:

• Create designs that align with your brand strategy: Designs that support your positioning and messaging
• Refine designs based on feedback: Iterate until the logo perfectly represents your brand
• Provide strategic guidance: Help you understand why certain design choices work better than others
• Support your brand over time: Help you adapt your logo as your business evolves

The One-Off Problem

Crowdsourced designers create a design, submit it, and move on. They don’t:

• Get to know your business
• Understand your long-term goals
• See how the logo performs in real applications
• Provide ongoing support or refinement

This transactional relationship means you miss out on the strategic value that comes from working with a designer who truly understands your brand.

Lack of Brand Development

A professional designer relationship supports brand development over time. They can:

• Help you understand how your logo fits into a complete brand identity
• Guide you on brand consistency across applications
• Suggest improvements as your brand evolves
• Provide ongoing brand support

Crowdsourcing provides none of this. You get a logo, but not a brand development partner.

Problem 3: No Collaboration or Refinement

The Mix-and-Match Advantage

When working with a single professional designer, you can:

• Combine elements: Like the color from one concept and the typography from another
• Refine designs: Ask for adjustments to specific elements
• Iterate: Develop concepts through multiple rounds of refinement
• Customize: Create exactly what you need, not just what was submitted

The Competitive Barrier

Crowdsourced designers are competing against each other. They won’t:

• Collaborate to improve designs
• Combine elements from different submissions
• Share insights or techniques
• Work together to create better solutions

This competitive environment prevents the kind of collaboration that leads to the best possible logo design.

Copyright and Legal Issues

Crowdsourced designers can’t legally:

• Use elements from other designers’ submissions
• Combine concepts from competing designs
• Build on ideas from other entries

This limits your ability to create the perfect logo by combining the best elements from multiple concepts.

Problem 4: Ethical Concerns

Spec Work and Unfair Compensation

Crowdsourcing is essentially “spec work”—designers create work with no guarantee of payment. This creates several ethical problems:

• Unfair to designers: Most designers invest significant time but receive no compensation
• Undervalues design: Treats design as a commodity rather than a professional service
• Exploitative: Takes advantage of designers’ need for work
• Damages the industry: Undermines professional design standards

The Real Cost to Designers

Consider the designer’s perspective:

• They spend hours creating concepts
• They research your business and industry
• They develop multiple design directions
• They refine and polish their submissions
• Most receive nothing for their work

Would you work for free with only a chance of being paid? That’s what crowdsourcing asks designers to do.

Industry Reputation

Crowdsourcing has a poor reputation among professional designers because it:

• Undervalues their expertise
• Requires unpaid work
• Creates a race to the bottom on pricing
• Undermines professional standards

This reputation can affect your brand if designers and industry professionals know you used crowdsourcing.

Problem 5: It Cheapens Your Brand

What Crowdsourcing Communicates

Using crowdsourced logo design sends several negative messages:

To Customers:

• You don’t value your brand enough to invest in professional design
• You’re willing to cut corners on important brand elements
• You may cut corners in other areas of your business

To the Design Community:

• You don’t value professional design work
• You’re not willing to pay fair rates for expertise
• You see design as a commodity, not a strategic investment

To Your Industry:

• You’re not serious about building a professional brand
• You may not be committed to long-term success
• You’re willing to compromise on quality

The Perception Problem

Even if your crowdsourced logo looks good, industry professionals can often tell it was crowdsourced. This perception can:

• Damage relationships with design professionals
• Affect how other businesses view your brand
• Limit future collaboration opportunities
• Undermine your professional reputation

Long-Term Brand Impact

A logo created through crowdsourcing may:

• Lack the strategic thinking needed for long-term brand success
• Not scale well as your business grows
• Require redesign sooner than professionally created logos
• Limit your brand’s potential

Investing in professional logo design from the beginning creates a stronger foundation for long-term brand success.

The Better Alternative: Professional Logo Design

Working with a Professional Designer

A professional logo designer provides:

Strategic Thinking

• Understands your business and industry
• Researches competitors and market positioning
• Develops designs that support your brand strategy
• Creates logos that work across all applications

Collaboration

• Works with you to understand your vision
• Provides multiple concepts for consideration
• Refines designs based on your feedback
• Combines elements from different concepts

Professional Quality

• Creates original, custom designs
• Ensures technical quality and scalability
• Provides proper file formats for all uses
• Delivers designs that meet professional standards

Ongoing Support

• Helps you understand how to use your logo
• Provides brand guidelines for consistency
• Supports your brand as it evolves
• Offers ongoing brand development guidance

The Real Cost Comparison

When comparing costs, consider:

Crowdsourcing:

• Platform fees
• Selected design payment
• Your time reviewing submissions
• Potential redesign costs if the logo doesn’t work
• Lost opportunity cost of poor branding

Professional Design:

• Designer fees
• Strategic brand development
• Multiple concepts and revisions
• Professional file formats
• Brand guidelines
• Ongoing support

The professional approach may cost more upfront, but it provides significantly more value and reduces long-term costs.

Making the Right Choice

When Professional Design Makes Sense

Invest in professional logo design when:

• You’re serious about building a strong brand
• You want a logo that truly represents your business
• You need strategic brand guidance
• You want ongoing brand support
• You value quality and professionalism

The Investment Perspective

Think of logo design as an investment, not an expense:

• A professional logo serves your business for years
• It supports all your marketing efforts
• It builds brand recognition and trust
• It differentiates you from competitors
• It supports long-term business growth

The cost difference between crowdsourcing and professional design is small compared to the value difference.

Conclusion: Invest in Your Brand

Crowdsourcing your logo design might seem like a cost-effective solution, but it’s a false economy. The problems—poor quality, lack of collaboration, ethical concerns, and brand damage—far outweigh any perceived savings.

Your logo is one of your most important brand assets. It represents your business everywhere it appears. Investing in professional logo design ensures you get a logo that:

• Truly represents your brand
• Supports your business goals
• Works across all applications
• Builds brand recognition and trust
• Serves your business for years to come

Don’t cheapen your brand with crowdsourcing. Invest in professional logo design and give your brand the foundation it deserves. The difference in cost is small compared to the difference in value, and your brand—and your business—will thank you for it.